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Braves salvage split to continue spinning wheels

PHILADELPHIA - In 11 hours, 17 minutes and 38 innings of baseball in two days here, the Atlanta Braves managed to do, well, absolutely nothing.

They split a pair of doubleheaders this weekend against the Phillies, providing their typical balance of hope-inspiring and misery-inducing moments that did nothing but cause yet more wheel-spinning in the chase for contention in the NL wild-card jumble.

Atlanta is 17-15 since Aug. 1.

Sunday, the on-the-fence Braves blew a ninth-inning lead in Game 1, losing 8-7, and then rallied for a 3-1 victory in 11 innings in Game 2 to leave Citizens Bank Park feeling ... so-so.

LaRoche's two-run homer in the ninth of the first game Saturday thrust the Braves' confidence up ... and then it came tumbling back down with a gruesome 16-4 loss in the nightcap.

Atlanta arrived in Philadelphia on Friday trailing wild card-leading San Diego by four games.

The Braves (65-71) leave for New York, and a three-game series against the NL East leaders, down five to the Padres. There are five teams, too, between Atlanta and San Diego.

"It's a microcosm of our season," left fielder Matt Diaz said. "We inch our way into things, and then there's one big blow."

That would work to sum up the doubleheaders, but Diaz was actually referring specifically to Sunday's first game.

His three-run, opposite-field home run off Fabio Castro keyed a four-run rally against the Phillies bullpen. To give them a legit shot at taking three of four in 48 hours, the Braves turned to closer Bob Wickman.

But Wickman, who'd converted his last 15 save tries dating back to his Cleveland days and June 28, couldn't locate, had some bad luck and blew the save and lead in a demoralizing turn of events.

The Braves would have beaten Philadelphia despite the fact that NL MVP frontrunner Ryan Howard launched three home runs off Tim Hudson to take his season total up to a major league-leading 52 homers. That's a new record in baseball for someone playing his second season in the majors. Howard was last season's Rookie of the Year, even though he wasn't even up all of 2005.

Hudson said he tried twice to pitch Howard in, and the mammoth first baseman slugged the offerings out to right-center, the second landing 450 feet away in Atlanta's bullpen.

Hudson then tried to pitch Howard away, and he reached out and poked his third blast into the left field seats.

Hudson gave up six hits in seven innings, three of them homers to Howard.

"You kind of scratch your head after that," Hudson said. "What the hell are you going to do next?"

He avoided the loss, but Wickman (0-1) didn't.

Wickman waited just a few hours for redemption, saving the day's second game after Lance Cormier's strong seven innings (one run, three hits), but it wasn't enough to push down his feeling of regret about Game 1.

"It's on my mind. It'll be on my mind all night tonight, even though I got the save (in Game 2)," Wickman said. "I let the team down. We had a chance to pick up two games.

"We didn't make up any ground in the standings. In September, you can't let that happen."

Beyond the field, the deck continually seems stacked against the turbulently tossing Braves this season.

Chipper Jones aggravated the side strain Saturday that had him on the disabled list in late July and early August. He has "no chance" to play this week against the Mets, Cox said.

"I don't exactly know how, but it got me," Jones said. "Got me good."

Marcus Giles will have his heart checked for a possible defect today, and the second baseman might not return this season.

Setup man Danys Baez is already on the DL after he had an appendectomy last week. Starter Kyle Davies looked awfully rusty Saturday night coming back from torn right groin that's had him out since May.

Starter John Thomson likely won't return this year because of persistent shoulder discomfort. Fellow starter Horacio Ramirez, slowly recovering from a finger injury on his pitching hand, probably won't either.

"This year's been nuts," Ramirez said from the visiting clubhouse couch Sunday morning.